Once upon a time there lived a Hare. Hare was very clever but he was also very lazy. His laziness often led him into trouble and brought him grief. His friends had advised him to change his ways but Hare was not one to listen.
One summers day, when the earth seemed to have become a large ball of fire, Hare sat under a tree looking very glum. He was worried because he was running out of food and his field was dry as hay. He did not want to starve to death, which he surely would if he could not get some vegetables or fruits growing on his farm. Neither did he want to work hard, which he would have to do to plough the field.
It was a difficult choice and Hare was at a loss. Thus, he sat, sighing and groaning under the tree. And as he sat there busy with his thoughts, his eyes suddenly lit up. The answer was walking right past him.
“Good day”, he called out to Elephant who was lumbering across the field. “You look so weak today, I bet you I could defeat you in a tug of war.”
Elephant snorted and kept on walking when Hare scampered across with a large rope and goaded him, “I hope you are a good loser, friend.”
Angry and irritated, Elephant decided to play along. Hare handed him one end of the rope and asked him to walk to the corner of the field while he ran across to the opposite end. He hid behind a bush until he saw Hippopotamus ambling past. “Hey”, he called out, “Care for a game of tug of war”. Hippo almost fell down laughing but Hare hopped up and down and challenged him to a fight. Hippo agreed and Hare handed him the other end of the rope.
With the two ends safely secured, Hare ran to the middle of the field, hid behind a tree and pulled at the rope. Both Elephant and Hippo pulled hard as they thought the other was tugging at the rope. As the two animals fought it out, the rope moved back and forth all over the field. And every time the rope moved, it ploughed a row in Clever Hare’s field. And so it came to be that foolish Elephant and silly Hippopotamus helped keep Hare away from hunger for years to come.
